Car and Driver: 2016 Corvette Z07 Spy Photos

Car and Driver Magazine has obtained what may be the first official spy photos of the next high performance Corvette model. While the Z06 moniker is expected among Vette enthusiasts since that’s what it was called in both C5 and C6 configurations, Car and Driver says historical RPO codes be damned and believe GM will call it the Z07 since this is the seventh generation Corvette.

The Z07 RPO has been used several times since it first appeared as an off-road suspension package from 1973-75 and it returned for C4 Corvettes from 1991-95 as an adjustable-suspension package. It was last used on C6 Z06 Corvettes as the “Ultimate Performance Package” starting with the Carbon Edition in 2011 and ending with C6 Z06 production in 2013.

Hmmm, the Ultimate Performance Package has a nice ring to it…

Longtime Car and Driver technical editor Don Sherman believes the high performance C7 will be outfitted with Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes and larger Michelin tires. He also believes Chevy will make a departure from supercharges and turn to turbo charging a smaller displacement engine to produce power in the neighborhood of 600 horsepower. Sherman points to the new Cadillac Elmiraj concept coupe which touts 500-hp out of a 4.5-liter twin-turbo V8 as an example. Finally, Sherman believes the Z07 will be offered exclusively with the Tremec TR-6070 seven-speed transmission, despite the coming of the new eight-speed Hydra-Matic auto transmission that will be available to Corvette at that time.

What we don’t agree with Sherman in the Car and Driver report is that he believes the pricing of the high performance Z07 will be in the neighborhood of $100,000 as opposed to the C6 Z06s starting price of $76,000. We hope that Chevy remains cost-conscious to its customers and that the new Z06/Z07 model will start in the $75,000-$80,000 range which is where a fully loaded all-optioned 2014 Corvette Stingray ends.

Car and Driver expects the new Z07 model to come in 2015 as a 2016 model year car. We’re holding out hope that the the new Corvette Z07 would be a 2015 model as originally thought but if they turn to turbocharging instead of supercharging, I can see why additional development time would be needed. A delay of another year would also give Chevy the opportunity to saturate the market with the base Stingray models before giving customers a choice of additional models.

Make sure you head over to Car and Driver to read the entire report and see all the spy photos.